Question

A sample of tritium-3 decayed to 94.5% of its original amount after a year.
(a) What is the half-life of tritium-3?
(b) How long would it take the sample to decay to 20% of its original amount?

Answer 1

(a) If $y(t)$ is the mass after $t$ days and $y(0) = A$ then $y(t) = Ae^{kt}.$

$y(1) = Ae^k = 0.945A \implies e^k = 0.945 \implies k = \ln 0.945$

$\text{Then } Ae^{(\ln 0.945)t} = \frac{1}{2}A\ \Leftrightarrow\ \ln e^{(\ln 0.945)t} = \ln \frac{1}{2}\ \Leftrightarrow\ ( \ln 0.945) t = \ln \frac{1}{2} \Leftrightarrow \\ \\ t = - \frac{\ln 5}{\ln 0.945} \approx 12.25 \text{ years}$

(b)
$Ae^{(\ln 0.945) t} = 0.20 A \ \Leftrightarrow\ (\ln 0.945) t \ln \frac{1}{5}\ \implies \\ \\ t = - \frac{\ln 5}{\ln 0.945} \approx 28.45\text{ years}$